Malvern Hills National Landscape — Attraction in Malvern Hills

The Malvern Hills is an area of outstanding beauty and without doubt somewhere worthy of a visit. Most of the walks are relatively easy even for those not wanting steep climbs and there are more challenging climbs for those wanting a bit more of a challenge. There are numerous places one can get a drink, cake or buttie and plenty of places to park although during busier times, sadly some do park dangerously on paths and verges rather than trying another parking spot. One of my favourite walks is from the British Camp where thee are a number of car parks available (payment required) and a delightful shack for refreshments. I also enjoy walking up to St Anne’s Well from Great Malvern town centre, several ways of getting up, some more testing than others, but some great views when there and a little veggie cafe at the Well if in need of a drink. If you are looking for a longer stay in the Malvern Hills area, there are a good selection of hotels and guest houses to stay at with a wide range of prices. The Cotford Hotel not only offers delightful accommodation, but has probably the best food in the area at its L’amuse Bouche restaurant, a sheer delight for any foodie. But I’ve not heard anything detrimental about other places offering accommodation, so I’m sure you will find something suitable. If you enjoy real ale, seek out the Nags Head, a real delight with a great choice of ales and roaring log fire, they also do some good food. There are numerous Indian style restaurants in the Great Malvern and Malvern Link areas, my favourite being the Everest Eatery in the Link where you can get a very nice meal eat in or takeaway with some superb Nepalese dishes also on the menu. If Thai is more to your taste and it certainly is my favourite type of food, then try the RedLion pub in Great Malvern, it has a small Thai restaurant attached and you can also eat in the pub and the food is very good. Great Malvern has a decent array of shops and plenty of cafes for that much needed breakfast or cup of coffee. If you are looking for cheap and cheerful, try Rebecca’s Range by the HSBC bank, a good breakfast at a decent price, but there are numerous others so you will be spoilt for choice. There is long stay parking at the rear of the Winter Gardens/Festival Theatre just a short stroll up into Great Malvern and then on up to the hills and if you are staying over, the Festival Theatre has some fantastic shows on offer as well as a Picture house with very comfy seating. Enjoy the Malvern Hills, a great place to visit with lots to do and see and easy reach to many other areas worth exploring such as the delightful small...

Sadly spoiled! The hills are lovely and there are great views. Occasionally you strike lucky, it’s quiet and they are magnificent. But…It’s the people and mostly it’s the regular users rather than day trippers:

Walkers: a lot of suburban people don’t understand the unwritten country code. In the great outdoors when someone walks close to you and says “good morning” it’s polite and conventional to return the salutation - not doing so is quite hostile. It points to a selfishness and rejection of civil society and its norms. Consequently they park inconsiderately blocking junctions to save paying or obtaining a pass. That leads us to the other groups in order of selfishness:

Dog owners: (we are one ourselves) lack control of their dogs. There are a lot of inexperienced dog owners who have raised animals they don’t have proper control of. They bother other dogs, they worry livestock (“he’s just playing” apparently) and they either don’t pick up their mess or they abandon their poo-bags in the wild. You’ll often see people with multiple dogs walking back off the hills without a single bag of dog poo - where oh where might it be? Oh there it is - on my child’s shoe!

Cyclists: The Conservators in their wisdom granted (with no public consultation) rights to use bicycles on the east side of the hills on the footpaths. Cyclists have no sense of appropriateness so cycle at unreasonable speeds on these paths mowing down walkers and dogs. They don’t refer to maps (they’re too busy whizzing downhill channelling their inner 5 year old and shrieking ‘weeeee’ in their heads) so don’t distinguish between paths where they are and are not allowed to ride. They erode scheduled ancient monuments which The Conservators fail to conserve and undermine trees roots and carve new vertical paths down the wooded flanks of the hills causing erosion.

As all civilised country lovers know the countryside code can be summed up by the anecdote “leave only footprints”. If only that were true of the lauded Malvern Hills TPP...

I just visited the Spring exhibition today 10 May 2018 and lots of challenges starting with unexplainable fact, that the entrance fee was £40 pp, ...then the issue of having the ticket the process was very long as the Management has introduced new system of issues tickets,just today...Then I do ask, why today Thursday the cost of the ticket was £40 and any other day till Sunday will be £20 ? The exhibition was big, but nothing so special to be such expensive. Also I do ask what government tax they pay and is there any control on that?Can not believed other fact happened there too. One of the officials just started to collect cash £40 of every person,who can not wait the long line and guest what, without any evidences for collection of their money. All people are shocked, but paralyzed to do anything . We came with coach and can not have chance to go back, except to be badly exploited and manipulated from the organisers or who is in charge. Can these types of events stay in UK without getting justice? Can a good event be presented in such a ugly way? Let someone answer me...and not only to me, but to all thousands of people there experience the same...